IMPORTANCE OF COORDINATING WORK OF UN REGIONAL COMMISSIONS HIGHLIGHTED BY COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES
Press Release
NR/224
IMPORTANCE OF COORDINATING WORK OF UN REGIONAL COMMISSIONS HIGHLIGHTED BY COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES
19960507 Given the United Nations lack of funds, the Committee on Natural Resources should focus on those agencies and groups that have funding available and are ready to take up the assignments, experts said this morning as the 24-member Committee continued consideration of United Nations system activities in the field of water and mineral resources. In particular, Committee members stressed the increasing role being played by regional commissions, and the importance, therefore, of increasing their effectiveness and coordination.Several experts expressed concern about the contents of the regional commissions' reports. The expert from Benin said the regional commissions' activities seemed to be overly focused on training and workshops. "It is high time that we begin to bring about real change in development on the ground. On the basis of these achievements the United Nations might be looked at in a different light."
The expert from Zambia said that unlike the Department of Development Support and Management Services, which in its reports had specified what it had been doing, some regional bodies had commented more on their mandates than on their work. He suggested that as part of the decentralization process, the mandates of regional bodies could be revisited to enable more grass-roots participation.
The expert from China expressed concern about the fact that most of the regional commissions concerned were not represented at the meeting. Other experts pressed for an intensification in the flow of information from the Secretariat to Committee members.
Representatives from the Department for Development and Support and Management Services and the Department for Policy Coordination and Sustainable Development responded that lack of funds had made it difficult both to bring people to meetings and to coordinate the activities of different agencies. Information exchange had been slowed by old-fashioned methods of communication, but increasingly electronic means could be used to improve the situation, it was suggested.
Committee on Natural Resources - 2 - Press Release NR/224 3rd Meeting (AM) 7 May 1996
A representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) outlined the recently established Global Water Partnership, which would facilitate more rational, effective and efficient use of water resources and promote more sustainable water use and management. The Partnership would have a small secretariat hosted by the Swedish Government. Its decision-making body would be a consultative group of countries, agencies and non-governmental organizations, advised by a technical advisory committee. It would directly benefit people, especially the poor; build trust and understanding; promote integrated approaches to water-resource management; and encourage stakeholders to work together to adopt consistent, mutually complementary programmes, develop effective and innovative solutions and promulgate practical policies at the regional, national and local levels.
The expert from Australia urged the Committee to follow UNDP's lead in focusing on issues that demanded concerted international action and on which coordination is built into the approach. That was better than "trying to coordinate on the back of existing projects".
The expert from India also suggested that the Committee concentrate on a few important issues rather than dealing with a broad range. Other experts called on the Committee to address its recommendations to influential groups such as the private sector and local communities.
A representative of the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women agreed with an expert's suggestion that the Institute should broaden its research on water to focus on policy-making as well as water supply and sanitation, adding that the Institute was in the process of doing just that.
The Committee will meet again at a time to be announced.
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